Install Sensu Core

Sensu Core is installed on IBM AIX systems via a native system installer package
(i.e. a .bff file), which is available for download from the Sensu
Downloads page, and from this repository.

Download and install Sensu using the Sensu .bff package

NOTE: As of Sensu version 0.27 repository URLs have changed. To
install or upgrade to the latest version of Sensu, please ensure you
have updated existing configurations to follow the repository URL
format specified below.

The Sensu installer package for IBM AIX systems is provided in backup file
format (.bff). In order to install the content, you will need to know the
“Fileset Name”. Display the content using the installp utility.

installp -ld sensu-1.4.1-1.powerpc.bff

Once you have collected the fileset name, you can optionally proceed to
preview installation using the installp utility, with the -p (preview)
flag.

installp -apXY -d sensu-1.4.1-1.powerpc.bff sensu

Install Sensu using the installp utility.

installp -aXY -d sensu-1.4.1-1.powerpc.bff sensu

NOTE: this command uses the following installp utilty flags: -a to apply
changes to the system, -X to extend the file system, and -Y to accept the
Sensu MIT License.

Configure the Sensu client. No “default” configuration is provided with
Sensu, so the Sensu Client will not start without the corresponding
configuration. Please refer to the “Configure Sensu” section (below)
for more information on configuring Sensu. At minimum, the Sensu client
will need a working transport definition and client definition.

Configure Sensu

By default, all of the Sensu services on IBM AIX systems will load configuration
from the following locations:

/etc/sensu/config.json

/etc/sensu/conf.d/**/*.json

NOTE: additional or alternative configuration file and directory locations may
be used by modifying Sensu’s service configuration and/or by starting the Sensu
services with the corresponding CLI arguments. For more information, please
consult the Sensu Configuration reference documentation.

Example Transport Configuration

At minimum, the Sensu client process requires configuration to tell it how to
connect to the configured Sensu Transport.

Copy the following contents to a configuration file located at
/etc/sensu/conf.d/transport.json:

{"transport":{"name":"rabbitmq","reconnect_on_error":true}}

NOTE: if you are using Redis as your transport, please use "name": "redis"
for your transport configuration. For more information, please visit the
transport definition specification.

If the transport being used is running on a different host, additional configuration is required to tell the sensu client how to connect to the transport.
Please see Redis or RabbitMQ reference documentation for examples.

Operating Sensu

Managing the Sensu client process

Rotating Sensu Logs

Sensu comes packaged with logrotate rules. However, on AIX, you’ll need to install an additional package to take advantage of those rules. You can install the logrotate package listed here. Once installed, the rules present in /etc/logrotate.d/sensu will be used.

Known limitations

Please note the following platform-specific limitations affecting Sensu on AIX
at this time. Unless otherwise stated, all documented functions of the Sensu
client are supported.

Foreign Function Interface

Foreign Function Interface (FFI) calls on Sensu’s embedded Ruby on AIX are
not working at this time, so any Ruby-based Sensu plugins that require FFI will
not work (however all other plugins should work). It is possible that FFI
support will be enabled in a future release.

About Sensu

The Sensu monitoring event pipeline empowers businesses to automate their monitoring workflows and gain deep visibility into their multi-cloud infrastructure, from Kubernetes to bare metal. Companies like Sony, Box.com, and Activision rely on Sensu to help deliver value faster, at scale.